Maintaining Cell Energetics Beyond Earth

As we saw in the video clips from the beginning of today's class, there may be a need in
the future for humans to inhabit other locations besides earth. In order for this habitation to
ever be possible, other planets would need to have suitable environments to support human
life and living organisms. Since the current state of other planets is not a viable option, people
would have to design and create a "space" that does support human life. While there are many
important factors to consider when designing these new spaces for human occupancy, finding a
way to keep a sustainable source of energy for metabolic processes will be crucial.
NASA and the U.S. government are calling upon students to propose new ideas to
sustain human life on other planets in case a time comes in the future where it is necessary.
Currently, NASA an the U.S. government are looking to find designs to maintain energetic
processes for human life. They would like you to design a model for a man-made habitat or
space that supports energetic processes. While there a number of potential solutions, they are
asking to keep this process as cost-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.
In order to fulfill this request for these organizations, we will have to learn about the metabolic
processes necessary to create energy supply in humans (and other living organisms), and the other
processes that are vital to help support metabolism as well. We have already learned a little bit about
these processes in class and will utilize that knowledge to help us design these models.

Goal: Design a sustainable space on another planet to support metabolism in humans and
other necessary energetic processes, using cost effective and environmentally friendly
methods.

Model the process of cellular respiration (and each of its steps) in your design and
explain its importance to your space.
Model the process of photosynthesis (and each of its steps) in your design and explain
its importance to your space.

Demonstrate how the catabolic and anabolic processes work together in your design.

Model how ATP is recycled in your design.

Argue why your design is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly (Are
you reducing greenhouse gases and other potential toxins? What are using to fuel
these necessary processes?)

Assessment Specifications
In order to get a full picture of your design you will have a visual display of your model, along
with a written support of your design.
The visual model of the design will be completed in groups of 2-3 (You may choose to work by
yourself with permission from Ms. Ucles) Your visual model must meet all of the criteria above
and you may choose to model your design in a number of ways:

Poster
3D model using materials of your choice
Computer generated models (using a program or app of your choice)

PowerPoint explaining the components of your model

Any other visual display of your choice (Needs approval from Ms. Ucles)

Your written support of the design will be completed independently. This will be completed in
the form of an essay. Here is how your essay should be formatted:
Introduction (1 paragraph)

Introduce the problem at hand (What was your goal? Who was your audience?)

Discuss your approach to this problem (What did you need to do in order to develop a
solution?)

Overview on your solution (Describe your model generally. What makes your model the
most cost-effective and environmentally friendly?)

Body Paragraphs (4 paragraphs)

For each of the criteria (see the 1st 4 bullet points on the previous page), you will need to
discuss:

Where in your model each criteria is represented (ex. Cellular respiration will occur in
the humans that will be the inhabitants for my design)
How does this process work (ex. a brief description of how cellular respiration works in
humans and each of the steps)
Why did you choose this particular piece in your design to model this process?

Conclusion (1 paragraph)

Summarize your model in a few sentences.

Argue why your model is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution
(last bullet point)

Assessment Evaluation
Your visual model and written support will be used as a test grade for Chapters 8 & 9
(Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration).
The representatives from NASA & the US government and I will be evaluating your work. NASA
and the U.S. government will be choosing one design from each class at the end of their
choosing (it could be one that was the most inventive/creative, or one that was the most
environmentally friendly/cost-effective-it will be up to them!) I will be using the rubric on the
back of this sheet to evaluate each individual. I will use this rubric twice: one will be an
evaluation of your visual model, one will be an evaluation of your written support. Both of
these grades will be combined to generate your test grade.
This assessment will be due at the end of Chapter 8 & 9. There will be class time set aside to
work on the visual and written parts of this assessment. However please recognize that you will
need to devote out-of-class time to this assessment as well.
DUE DATE: APRIL ____, 2015

Chapter 8 & 9 Assessment Rubric (Model & Supporting Explanations)

Category

Beginning

Developing

Proficient

Mastery

Context of
Problem (See
Guidelines
Sheet)

-Analysis of the
problem is vague
or only indirectly
addresses the
problem. It is
unlikely the
solution will
address the
specific problem.
-Incorporates all 5
bullet points in the
above manner.
OR
-Missing 4 or
more bullet points.
The other bullet
points are
proficient.

-Analysis of the
problem is
insufficient rather
than individually
designed to
address the
specific contextual
factors of the
problem. Unclear
whether solution
will address
specific
problem/issue.
-Incorporates all 5
bullet points in the
above manner.
OR
-Missing 2 or 3
bullet points. The
other bullet points
are proficient.

-PROFICIENT
analysis of the
problem and
context of the
issue while
identifying some
limits of the
proposal.
Identifies
workable
approach for
solving the
problem.
-Incorporates all 5
bullet points in the
above manner.
OR
-Missing 1 bullet
point. The other
bullet points are
proficient.

-Extremely
SOPHISTICATED
analysis of the
problem and
context of the
issue. Proposal is
imaginative,
taking into
account the
complexities of
the issue and
limits are clearly
identified.
-Incorporates all 5
bullet points in the
above manner.

Show
understanding of
the big idea
(How
Photosynthesis
and Cellular
Respiration work
together)

-Learner shows
no understanding
of the topics and
does not
assemble or
synthesize the big
ideas of
information to
address authentic
task

Reaching the
audience

-Design of model
or written support
is not clear or not
easily understood
by audience.

Overall Quality

-Little to none of
the work is
original.
Disclaimer: does
not matter how
organized or
pertinent the
information is, if it
is not solely your
work then you will
not get higher
than Beginning

Product

-Neither colorful or
creative or has a
WOW factor.
-Writing is not
cohesive or
organized. Three
or more major
grammatical and
spelling errors are
present.

Rubric adapted from K. Nicosia

-Learner shows
partial proficient
understanding of
the topics but is
not able to form a
logical flow of
information.
-Does not
necessarily
correlate all of the
topics to address
the authentic task.
-Learner is able to
assemble of the
topics of
information but
lack the synthesis
of some of the big
ideas.
-Design of model
or written support
is clear and
understood by
audience covering
at least 2 or 3 of
bullet points.
-Shows some
original work but
shows some
copying.
Disclaimer: does
not matter how
organized or
pertinent the
information is, if it
is not solely your
work then you will
not get higher
than Developing.

-Learner shows a
proficient
understanding of
the topics by
being able to form
a logical flow of
information but
does not
necessarily
correlate all topics
to address the
authentic task.
-Learner is able to
assemble all of
the topics of
information but
lack the synthesis
of some of the big
ideas.
-Design of model
or written support
is clear and
understood by
audience covering
at least 4 bullet
points.
-Shows original
work.
-Mostly organized
in a way for which
the user can
easily identify
most of the big
ideas.
-Project contains
PERTINENT
information but
has some
extraneous,
distracting detail.

-Either colorful or
creative or has a
WOW factor.
-Writing is
somewhat
cohesive and
organized. Three
major grammatical
and spelling errors
are present.

-Either colorful or
creative or has a
WOW factor.
-Writing is mostly
cohesive and
organized. Only
one or two major
grammatical and
spelling errors are
present.

-Learner goes
above and beyond
the understanding
of topics by being
able to form a
logical flow of
information uses
analogies to reach
the target
audience.
-Learner is able to
assemble and
synthesize all of
the topics of
information to
address the
authentic task.

-Design of model
or written support
is clear and
understood by
audience covering
at least 5 bullet
points.
-Shows original
work.
-Highly organized
in a way for which
the user can
easily identify ALL
of the big ideas.
-Project only
contains
PERTINENT
information
(audience is not
overwhelmed by
extraneous,
distracting detail).
-Colorful, creative,
and has a WOW
factor.
-Writing is
cohesive,
organized, and
free of
grammatical and
spelling errors.